DONOVAN, Patrick Matthew
| Service Number: | 1735 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 28 February 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 38th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Linton, Victoria, Australia, October 1886 |
| Home Town: | Echuca, Campaspe, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Assistant postal clerk |
| Died: | Drowning, Port Phillip Bay near Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, May 1925 |
| Cemetery: |
Cheltenham (Pioneer) Cemetery, Victoria Plot 45*27RC*O |
| Memorials: | Hawthorn Postmaster General's Department Victoria 1 |
World War 1 Service
| 28 Feb 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1735, 38th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Jun 1916: | Involvement Private, 1735, 38th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Runic embarkation_ship_number: A54 public_note: '' | |
| 20 Jun 1916: | Embarked Private, 1735, 38th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Runic, Melbourne | |
| 1 Sep 1917: | Promoted AIF WW1, Second Corporal, 38th Infantry Battalion | |
| 6 Apr 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Sergeant, 1735, 38th Infantry Battalion, 3rd MD |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Evan Evans
From Dan Jones
Another forgotten soldier resting at Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery. 97 years ago on the 18 May 1925, the body of 1735 Sergeant Patrick Matthew Donovan, of the 38th Battalion AIF was found drowned, floating in Port Phillip Bay near Port Melbourne.
Born in 1886 in Linton, Victoria, the son of Matthew Donovan and Maria O'Dea. The 29 year old postal clerk from Echuca enlisted on the 28 February 1916.
Arriving overseas in London in August 1916, he was stationed with the 10th Training Battalion. Hospitalised for influenza in May 1917 he was then transferred to the Pay Corps. Over the following year he was hospitalised numerous times, but seemed to have a relatively quiet war, as he never left England. This didn't stop him from getting in trouble though - he was charged for being AWL at Sutton Veny for a day. He returned to Australia in January 1919 and was discharged in April.
His body was found fully dressed, and on the Kerferd Road Pier seven days before (the 11th), his personal effects including £10 in notes, a bank book showing £15 credit, matches, keys, clothes and hair brushes and his war service medal were found and handed into the police.
A coroner's inquest into the circumstances surrounding his death found the cause was drowning. It was inconclusive whether or not he was of sound mind at the time.
He is buried with his brother Joseph. (Plot 45*27RC*O).
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